Search the Community

Prelude: Summer came and went at Owlshire. We had a cool and often wet summer, sparked now and again by short heat waves. The garden didn’t fare well. Tomatoes in great promise, suddenly gone in their entirely in a few days after a blight hit. Anemic vegetables, little nibbling animals… There’s always next summer. At the beginning of the year, I started a full time “9-5” job for the first time in almost 10 years. Time slips away so much more quickly when one has a day job, even one they enjoy. Last week I turned 42. I’m an American word witch living in the forests of England with my British husband and pre-school son. I write, I game (mostly board games, TRPGs and LARP), garden, and spend a lot of time out in the woods looking for faeries. 42 is supposed to be the answer to everything, but I’m still searching… The Challenge: Less is More Eat Less - continue reduced portion sizes and snack avoidance. Move More - continue 100+ minutes of walks and garden labor each week. Continuing from the previous challenge, I’m 3lbs down on my 10lbs by the end of the year challenge, and if I can keep that kind of progress, I might actually make it. Rededication to Deep Work Over the past few weeks I’ve discovered Discord communities and other online distractions and I’m spending way too much time on them. I don’t want to drop it entirely, but I need to get a grip on my online time as it’s eating into other things I want to do. So I’m going to use my Less is More philosophy here—less distractions, more focus. Five 30 minute focus sessions on work on work days (average) One 30 minute focus session on personal time per day (average) Work focus session activities include doing the writing of course, but also on courses I’m starting on game design and other related topics to my career. Focus sessions are done around meetings, email, Slack, etc. Personal focus sessions include continuing my spiritual studies, non-work writing, personal admin, and similar activities. I plan to increase personal sessions over time. Extra Credit - Participate in the Class! - Get active on other NF threads again. Check and comment on one thread a day x5 week (average). Pass Conditions: Weigh less than when I started this challenge. Deep Work goals 80% met. Reward: New Clothes! Midterm Reward - 2 items I’ve been eyeing in the latest catalogues End term Reward - 3 items I’ve been eyeing in the latest catalogues

Hi guys! It has been a while, but this NF thing really worked for me in the past. As this is my birthday month, there is no better timing than now! So having already on mind what it wanted as goals this time around, I decided to use my Ouitch oracle cards to see what I needed in the upcoming month. I did a 3 card layout. Here is what I got: 1) First card represents current energy and the present. Yule: rebirth, resolutions. What do I need? 2) Second card is the subconscious, desires, what needs to be healed, the past. Uranus: eccentricity, difference, predictability and unpredictability. Am I happy in my current routine and choices? Do I need to stand out more? 3) Third card is what you need to do, the solution, future energy. Anahata: Heart chakra, connection, love, link between the spiritual and physical chakra. Self love, putting oneself as a priority. I drew it upside down, which means: stop choosing harmony over self care, doing so means people walk all over me. Time to say what I think and take my place. This draw is incredible! What it tells me is exactly related to this challenge mindset. I am in a questioning energy, wondering what I want to change and what to keep in my daily routines. Does it nourish me? Does it bring joy? Does it need to be changed or does it need to stay as is? What do I need? Can I embrace my spiritual eccentricity? What resolutions do I need? I need to put myself in priority, with love. And stop letting people (my kids especially) walk all over me. Take more space; stop fearing that I bother others when I am myself; putting some good boundaries. Here are my goals this time around: going back to the times a few year back when I felt my best, which was when I took 1h solely to myself every morning to take care of my mental and physical health. The ‘’SAVERS’’ miracle morning appeals to me so I will do it like so: S – Silence: meditation, 3 min cardiac coherence breaths. A- Affirmation: mantra signing and affirmation. Currently the Green Tara mantra appeals to me. V- Visualization: see myself in a safe loving bubble; see myself interacting with the people around me with calm, love and compassion. So that it becomes more a part of me E- Exercise: The monthly yoga with Adrienne calendar, this month’s theme is INQUIRE. R- Read: current read is the miracle morning for this savers routine, I’m about half through. After that, will see what calls me. S- Script: journal a little every morning, just to see what thoughts are there, trying to calm the mind and asses how I am in this day It will look like this in reality: - Wake – do some deep breaths in bed, doing about 3 min of cardiac coherence. - Do some yoga, from the calendar 30-60 min, followed by some Green Tara mantra, and then my own daily intention. - Go take a shower, take time to embrace the moment in water, then take care or my face, teeth and general look. Get dressed. - Go downstairs to do my treatments (I have Cystic Fibrosis) and read while doing them. About 10-15 min. - Take my coffee and journal a few minutes - Eat breakfast and take my morning pills. Loving the overnight oats, I am waiting on some new flavors I ordered, to try some new mixes. This routine should take from 1h to 1:30h I suppose. I work from home because of Covid, so it should work out fine without being stressful for this whole month. Will see how I will adapt it in September when kids have to go back to school. So here are the actual 3 things this represents in this challenge: 1) Meditate daily 2) Practice daily yoga 3) Eat a good breakfast everyday (overnight oats) Self reminder : all this is to put myself as a priority, be more grounded, be more calm, in a loving caring way, towards myself first to I can be a better human for my loved ones.

I just read "The Power of Habit" by Charles Duhigg. Excellent insights from scientific research on the subject of habits and how to make them and how to break them. I need to start some new habits. I actually already started so the challenge will be to continue them until they are an automatic habit. 1- Don't eat in my office or bedroom. 2- 1 hr morning meditation, seven days a week 3- Work on memorizing basic witch stuff from my first and second Alexandrian coven class. (Yup, I wanna be a witch.) That's about it.